PATA bigs farewell to its China Director

24 September 2013

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) bids farewell to its much admired Regional Director – Greater China, Ms. Kate Chang, who has accepted a position with the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Bureau in the Beijing office.

The Executive Board thanked Ms. Chang for her dedicated service to PATA for the last eight years during meetings in Chengdu. They, and all members, wish her much success in her new position.

“We are hopeful that Kate will remain a member of the PATA family via its China Chapter,” said Martin Craigs, CEO of PATA. “It will be a challenge to find and select a replacement for Kate, but I am confident the talent pool in China is large enough. PATA will be building its relationships further in China and will build its team accordingly.”

Ms. Chang single-handedly built the PATA China office to what it is today. As the first international tourism organization with an office in China Ms. Chang and her team have, since 2007 successively connected with key government organizations and private partners from the China visitor economy to build a solid foundation that will facilitate the future growth of the industry and further advance the connection of the Chinese market with the rest of the world.

In her eight years with PATA, Ms. Chang successfully initiated and launched the China Responsible Tourism Forum, which just saw its third edition hosted in Jiuzhaigou Valley in northern Sichuan. The forum is a platform to showcase good practices in sustainable tourism development and brings together leaders in the industry to examine the industry’s impact on our natural and cultural environments.

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Ms. Chang was also instrumental in partnering with the Chinese government to host signature PATA events in China, including the 60th anniversary celebrations in Beijing in 2011 and the 2009 and 2013 PATA Travel Marts.

Ms. Chang has been in charge of numerous tourism development projects undertaken by PATA covering planning, brand and product development, marketing and crisis management of Chinese destinations in Shanghai, Dalian, Hangzhou and Chengdu.

Ms. Chang will complete her service with PATA at the end of October 2013, and will then assume her new role as the Director of the China Office for LA Tourism.